


Cosplay

by VampAmber



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Caring Castiel, Complete, Cosplay, Dean in Glasses, First Kiss, Fluff, Geek Dean, Geeky, M/M, Nerd Dean, One Shot, Piercings, Pointless, Punk Castiel, Punk Castiel/Nerd Dean Winchester, Referenced Smut, Tattooed Castiel, Tattoos, Tongue Piercings, fan conventions, fanboy dean, nerd!dean, punk!Cas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-11-04 22:06:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10999974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampAmber/pseuds/VampAmber
Summary: Cas managed to snag tickets for the convention his boyfriend Dean desperately wanted to go to, and even though he's not really that into that kind of stuff, he'd do anything for Dean. You'd think a punk at a geek convention would stick out like a sore thumb, but he doesn't... for entirely unexpected reasons.Punk!Cas/nerd!Dean, because reasons...





	Cosplay

**Author's Note:**

> I absolutely adore punk!Cas/nerd!Dean fics, and wanted desperately to try my hand at one. Thankfully, my muse finally complied. Yays!
> 
> Also, I loved writing this. It was fun. Binge wrote it, it was so fun.
> 
> No beta, blah blah, usual rules apply, things and stuff and such. There's too much blood in my caffeine system right now, sorry...

“I don’t know how the hell you managed to get tickets, Cas. This con’s been sold out for over a month now,” Dean said excitedly, obviously trying to contain his energy so he was at least not actually jumping up and down. Though considering the other people standing around them in the ungodly long line, Cas was pretty sure the behavior would be accepted as something completely normal.

Cas shrugged. “Eh, I knew a person,” he said nonchalantly. He’d be paying Ruby back in far more than just money for the next few weeks (though thankfully she fully understood that he was gay, or else he’d probably be paying back in those ways as well), but his boyfriend didn’t need to know that. Cas just hoped she hadn’t hurt anybody to get her hands on the two tickets in his pocket. He may have been willing to do almost anything to make Dean happy, but he wasn’t quite willing to actually get people hurt. Before meeting the nerdy guy next to him, he wouldn’t have cared in the slightest, but that was the old Cas.

“I just… I never thought I’d get to come, yanno? Thank you so much, Cas, you’re the best boyfriend ever,” Dean babbled out, pouncing on Cas immediately afterwards, hugging him tightly. His glasses were pushed at an odd angle, and Cas couldn’t help the sappy grin that spread across his face as he returned the hug.

“Anything for you, babe,” Cas said, pushing Dean’s glasses back into place as they parted. They’d been dating since the end of junior year, and while a lot of the kids at their high school had teased them in the beginning, they’d refused to let it bother them and eventually people had stopped caring. Thank god for the short attention span of the average American teenager.

It had actually happened on accident. There was a huge research project that their history class had to pair off to do, and Cas had been stuck with the shy, nerdy Dean Winchester. The guy’s closet was filled to the brim with t-shirts from geeky TV shows and movies like Star Wars, and his stupid looking glasses were always sliding down his nose while it was stuck in yet another sci-fi novel whenever he wasn’t taking notes in class. At lunch that day, Cas and his friends had spent pretty much the entire time cracking jokes at Dean’s expense, constantly glancing over at him off in the corner sitting with Charlie and Kevin, who were just as bad on the nerd scale. They made sure to be as obvious as possible about who they were laughing at, but the only reactions they got were a few glares from Dean and Charlie, while Kevin made sure to never once look up from his lunch tray.

The project was due in two weeks, and there was a lot to be done during those weeks, so they’d had to meet up at the library after school constantly. The first time had been beyond awkward, with both of them feeling incredibly uncomfortable while getting barely anything accomplished. The second one started just the same as the one before. They’d just finished a heated argument in hushed tones, their third in the last twenty minutes, when they both huffed and settled into an awkward silence, staring off in opposite directions.

A few minutes later, Dean’s timid voice broke it. “Do you really have a tattoo?” He asked quietly, even by library hush hush standards.

The unexpected question confused Cas enough that he forgot he was supposed to be pissed off at the guy next to him. “Uh, yeah. Three so far,” he answered.

“Really?” Dean asked, a hint of awe in his voice. “Did they hurt?”

“Tickled a little, especially the one on my shoulder,” Cas said. With most people, he’d be boasting by now, playing up how horrifying and painful it had been, how there had been so much blood, and damn if he wasn’t the bravest, most bad ass mother fucker on the planet for surviving, but with Dean… the honesty just kinda slipped out.

“What are they?” Dean asked, curiously glancing over Cas’ body like he could find where they were located even through his shirt and leather jacket.

Cas pulled his jacket and shirt aside enough to show off the elaborate skull surrounded by the kind of flowers you’d see at a funeral. He tugged the collar of his shirt down a little more so the words _Death is only the beginning_ were visible. “My first one, got it last year,” he said proudly.

“Wow, it looks incredible,” Dean said softly, the compliment more genuine than anything any of his friends said, ever. Cas actually had to stop himself from blushing for some reason.

He let his shirt and jacket fall back to their original positions, and leaned over to pull up the leg of his torn up jeans. Dean leaned over and stared at the band logo tattoo taking up the majority of Cas’ calf. “Got that one when I was drunk, I don’t suggest it,” Cas said with a grimace.

“You were drunk?” Dean asked, confused look on his face. “But you’re only seventeen.”

“And you gotta be at least eighteen to get inked. Amazing what a good fake ID can do for ya,” Cas said casually. Dean’s eyes widened, and Cas chuckled. Maybe this project wasn’t gonna be as bad as he’d thought.

“And the third one?” Dean asked, eyes still a bit wide. This was almost fun. All of Cas’ friends had tattoos as well, with quite a few of them having way more than him. Meg even had a naked woman on her arm that she’d been yelled at about by pretty much every authority figure in the school until she had to start covering it up so she wouldn’t have to explain getting expelled to her parents. To them tattoos just were, no longer anything exciting. You got a few ‘hey, cool’ or ‘kick ass design, man’ comments when you first showed up with a new one, but that was about it. It was pretty nice, having somebody actually be impressed with his tattoos for once.

“C’mere,” Cas said, indicating with his head for Dean to move over to the other side of him. Cas pulled up the bottom of his shirt, showing off the writing on his ribs.

Dean inhaled sharply. “Is that Enochian?” He asked, looking more amazed by this one than the other two combined. This time, Cas couldn’t stop the tiny blush that thankfully didn’t go much past his ears.

“Yeah, it’s a protection charm or something,” Cas said, kind of impressed with Dean now. “Mostly got it cuz it looked cool, though,” he admitted, even though it wasn’t exactly the truth. He’d seen it in a book, and it felt right, like he just had to get it. Nothing like it had ever happened before, or since, so he never really explained it to anybody. Made him sound crazy or something.

Cas felt Dean’s finger glance over his skin, and he shivered slightly. The touch was gone in an instant. “Sorry,” Dean said quickly, backing off a few feet. His blush hadn’t bothered to stop at his ears, from what little Cas could tell. A different kind of awkward silence fell then, as Dean sat back down in his seat.

“You ever think about getting one?” Cas asked hesitantly, already missing the easy camaraderie that had somehow managed to develop in the past few minutes.

“A tattoo? Not really,” Dean responded. “Wouldn’t know what to get, anyway. But I really like yours. They kinda fit you.” Dean offered Cas a smile, and Cas couldn’t help but think that Dean was actually kind of cute, for a nerd.

“Thanks,” Cas responded, tugging at one of the piercings in his ear. Whenever he got nervous, he fiddled with his piercings, but why the hell was he nervous?

“So, about the project,” Dean said, and for the rest of the evening they worked together easily and comfortably. It felt like hanging out with his friends, but different too. There was a refreshing lack of competition, and a lot less insults hurled about. It felt like it did back before Cas’ family moved here in middle school, before he’d rebelled in protest by being everything his parents hated. Before the tattoos and piercings, the drinking and partying, the loud concerts that he only kind of enjoyed, when his hair didn’t have blue dye in it and his eyes weren’t always lined in black. Back when he was normal, at least in comparison to now. And it felt nice.

They were both packing up their stuff because the library was closing in a few minutes when Cas realized he didn’t want it to end. “Hey, you wanna go grab some food or something? I’m starving after all that thinking,” he suggested, hoping he didn’t sound as desperate as he felt.

“I should probably get going, cuz it takes a while to walk home from here,” Dean sounded disappointed. “Maybe next time?”

“I can drive you home after?” Cas rushed out. Shit, he was more desperate than he thought.

“I didn't know you had a car,” Dean said, that impressed tone back in his voice. Almost nobody at their school actually had their own car, since the town was so small that you could pretty much walk from one end to the other in less than a few hours. “Then sure, if you can take me home after.”

“Nothin’ to look at, but at least it runs,” Cas said as they walked towards the parking lot. His truck was parked near the back, and it was more rust than car, but he didn’t really care. They got in, and Cas started it up. The radio automatically clicked on, and music blared out of the speakers. “Sorry,” Cas shouted over the music, and turned the volume down.

“Never need to apologize about AC/DC,” Dean joked. “I love this kinda music.” That smile was back, and it was starting to do really funny things to his insides. They talked about music on the ride to the restaurant, and it turned out they liked a lot of the same bands. They kept talking throughout the meal, and they had a lot more in common than Cas ever would’ve guessed. Dean even made the stuff Cas wasn’t into at least sound interesting.

When Cas finally pulled up outside Dean’s place, he still didn’t want the night to end. He was pretty sure he had a crush on the guy by now, but he had no idea which direction Dean swung, let alone if he’d even want some angry punk freak as a boyfriend.

“Thanks for the ride,” Dean said softly, looking over at Cas with some unreadable expression on his face. He had such amazing green eyes, but those damn glasses made it impossible to properly see them.

Before Cas realized what he was doing, he’d leaned over and slipped Dean’s glasses off. “You should get contacts, cuz you can't see your eyes with these things blocking ‘em,” Cas whispered. Without the thick frames in the way, Dean’s eyes were beautiful. Even in the shitty overhead light of his truck, they were gorgeous. Dean was gonna be weirded out and probably pissed, but it was completely worth it. Cas couldn’t look away.

Dean just stared back, his breathing becoming labored. They were so close… “Cas?” Dean whispered back, and suddenly lunged at him. Cas gasped when he felt Dean’s lips collide with his, and he was about to bring his empty hand up to thread his fingers through Dean’s messy hair when he pulled back. “Sorry,” Dean said, panicking. “I didn’t mean to, I mean… shit, I’m sorry,” he sputtered out, blindly reaching behind him for the door handle. “I’ll leave now, I’m sorry.”

Cas just grabbed the front of Dean’s shirt and pulled him back into the kiss. This time it was Dean’s turn to be startled, but unlike before it didn’t end right before it got good. Cas put the glasses on the dashboard and wound his arms around Dean’s neck, prodding his mouth to open so that their tongues could play. The moan that escaped from Dean, muffled through the kiss, only made Cas move closer. He could feel hands running up and down his back, and Cas let out a moan of his own.

“Holy shit,” Dean muttered when they finally pulled apart a few minutes later. His hair was messed to hell and his lips were swollen and Cas had never seen anything hotter in his short existence. “What was the thing I felt?” He asked as he shakily put his glasses back on.

Cas let out a laugh. “Tongue stud,” he answered, then stuck out his tongue to show it off better.

“Whoa, cool,” Dean said, making Cas feel all warm and appreciated.

“Makes blow jobs feel a thousand times better,” Cas said. He laughed again when Dean let out a squeak and blushed furiously. “Maybe I can show you soon,” he couldn’t help but tease.

When he was finally capable of breathing again, Dean looked over at Cas and asked “So we can do this again?” He looked like he was mentally preparing for rejection, and it kicked Cas in the heart, hard.

“If you want to,” he answered. Please let him want to. Dean nodded and Cas let out the breath he’d been holding. But then he tensed up again. Was making out in a car okay, but nothing else? It wouldn’t be the first time a guy was ashamed to be seen with Cas but was perfectly fine with sex. “And, umm, maybe more?” Cas sounded meek, and completely unlike his usual self.

“Like dates?” Dean asked. Cas nodded. “And being, like, officially boyfriends?” Cas nodded again, starting to worry. “And even acknowledging each other at school?” Cas nodded again, trying to not show any emotion. “Really? You'd be willing to do that with me?” Dean sounded so excited that Cas almost cried with relief.

Cas kissed him again, laughing as their lips met. “Anything, Dean, anything you want,” Cas happily exclaimed. Dean looked just as happy, and Cas smiled as he readjusted his new boyfriend's glasses for him.

The rest of the project went a lot easier, but took a lot longer to complete than it should have because of all the ‘breaks’ the two kept taking. The first time Dean got to experience Cas’ tongue stud was in a deserted study room on the second floor of the library two days before the project’s due date, for example.

Cas’ friends teased him a lot those first few weeks after the school found out about the newest couple, but after he beat the living crap out of Uriel for insulting Dean one too many times, they let off except for their usual light teasing. The rest of the school teased and occasionally insulted for a bit longer, but when summer break came, the two were completely forgotten by the time school resumed in the fall.

An insistent tugging at the sleeve of his jacket pulled him out of his memories. “C’mon Cas,” Dean said, starting to pull at him. He looked up to see the line moving. “Saved up a ton of money and I wanna hit the vendor's room before all the good stuff’s gone,” Dean explained after they finished at registration, excitedly dragging him off in a seemingly random direction.

Cas rolled his eyes, but followed obediently. His boyfriend was the exact same at any video game store or comic book shop he got dragged to. But Cas loved being the indulgent boyfriend whenever he could, so he only pretended to be annoyed. Whenever Dean geeked out over stuff, he was like an adorable little puppy, and it made Cas melt every single time.

They made their way through the already crowded convention center, passing by a bunch of people in costumes (something called ‘cosplay’ according to Dean). Cas recognized a few of the characters from some of the movies and shows he’d watched with Dean, and the games they played that Dean always kicked his ass at, but most of them were completely unfamiliar to him. Apparently even with all the pop culture Dean had been exposing him to since they started dating, he’d still not even finished putting that first toe into the geek water.

The vendor's room was even more crowded than the halls had been, and even with Dean’s hand gripping his tightly, Cas was having a hard time keeping up. A large guy with a bunch of bags in his hand accidentally bumped into Cas, and then he no longer had even Dean’s grip to keep track of. ”Fuck,” Cas muttered, already unable to see where his boyfriend had went.

“Hey man, I’m sorry,” the guy who’d bumped into him apologized, backing up and looking a little afraid. Cas guessed he still looked pretty scary, since he’d done pretty much all his changing-for-the-better on the inside.

He flashed his friendliest smile and said “Don’t sweat it.” That was enough to soothe the guy’s fears, and he walked off in the direction he’d been going in before. Cas sighed, and started looking for Dean. With his boots, he was a little over six feet and taller than a lot of the other people here, but it was just so freaking crowded that he’d need at least another foot of height for it to be much of an advantage. He’d just have to start searching the hard way.

He spotted a booth that had a bunch of Star Wars stuff and headed towards it, knowing that was Dean’s favorite movie, and probably his favorite thing in the world after his little brother, Cas, and maybe pie. No Dean, and the guy running the booth hadn’t seen him. He asked at the next few booths, having to show each person the picture of Dean he used as his cell phone’s background since the place was stuffed to the brim with people fitting any descriptive word Cas could come up with for how Dean looked today. He’d seen at least four guys and a girl wearing the exact same shirt as Dean since they got here, even.

The last guy, manning a booth selling a bunch of stuff with anime characters on it (‘anime’ being another term Cas only knew because of Dean), had confused him, though. After he told Cas he hadn’t seen Dean yet, and promising to say he was looking if Dean did come by later, he complimented Cas’ jacket. It was the same black leather jacket he wore all the time, but that wasn’t the confusing part. It was how the guy said it.

“Your outfit’s awesome,” he’d said as Cas was putting his phone away. “Really authentic looking.”

“Uh… it is real leather, so yeah, I guess,” Cas replied slowly.

“Whoa, real leather? Now that’s some serious dedication there,” the guy whistled.

Cas just raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Yeah, I gotta get back to searching,” he said to explain why he was edging away. Dude was obviously a bit nuts, but that was no reason to be an ass about it.

He asked about Dean at two more booths before the guy’s reaction finally made sense. As he was putting his phone away after receiving yet another negative, he felt somebody tugging at his sleeve. He heaved a sigh of relief, glad Dean had managed to find him, and turned around to see… not Dean. It was a girl with a camera in her hand, and behind her were two more girls who were obviously her friends, especially since all three of them were wearing matching Japanese school girl outfits. “Your cosplay is so perfect,” she said. She looked like she wasn’t a day over fourteen and she sounded even younger. “Can I take your picture please? He’s my favorite character.” She grinned and held up her camera, which only made her two friends start giggling.

“What?” Cas asked.

“Riyuki’s my favorite character ever, and I was hoping…” She was starting to look nervous now, and Cas wondered if he’d accidentally slipped back into one of his old tough faces again.

“Sorry, but I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he explained, trying to seem as non-threatening as possible. It apparently worked, because she no longer looked nervous. Unfortunately, it was replaced with disappointment.

“You’re not cosplaying as Riyuki from _Student By Day, Fight King By Night_?” She asked.

Cas shook his head. “Never heard of it, sorry.”

“You haven’t? It’s only, like, the most popular anime ever right now,” she said excitedly. Her two friends rushed up, and all three of them started talking at once, they were so excited.

“He still goes to high school, but pays for his mom’s hospital bills by fighting professionally at night.”

“He’s so nice and awesome, and saves kittens whenever they’re in trouble.”

“He’s totally got a crush on Daisuke, but it’s not canon cuz it’s not a yaoi.”

“He always fights fair, even when the other guy cheats.”

“In the last episode, he totally kicked three guys’ butts at the same time.”

“I have a Riyuki/Daisuke doujinshi at home, and I’ve read it a billion times.”

“I swear, you look just like him when he fights,” said the original girl, and the other two girls quieted down as she pulled a folder from her bag. “See?” She showed him a picture of a guy who actually did look a lot like him. The guy, who was the main character Riyuki, had the same kind of leather jacket, a bunch of piercings (though nowhere near as many as Cas), and even had blue tips in his hair, just like Cas had randomly switched to last month.

“Wow, he does, doesn’t he?” Cas said, staring at the picture. He thought he’d seen people staring at him oddly, but had just assumed it was the same as anywhere, and it was just because of his different-ness. They had all probably thought he was cosplaying, too. Weird.

“Sorry for bothering you,” the original girl apologized. She started heading away with her friends.

The poor girl had looked so let down that Cas blurted out “You can still take the picture if you want.” The three girls turned around and looked confused. “I didn’t do it on purpose, but you’re right, he does look a lot like me. So… you can have that picture if you still want it, I guess. If you don’t mind it not being a costume.” The three girls rushed over as one, and all started hugging him.

“Thank you so much,” the girl said, and the three of them pulled back. The girl turned her camera on, and brought it up to see the shot. “Can you do a pose?” She asked, sounding uncertain.

Cas shrugged. “I guess?”

“Try and look really tough, like you just beat up a guy,” the girl suggested. That was easy. He’d won most of the fights he’d been in. He slipped back into his old, tough persona even though it felt like it didn’t really fit any more. He heard three quiet squeals, and heard her camera snap, as well as what was probably a few other cameras going off, two of them even using flash.

“That okay?” Cas asked, and the three girls nodded excitedly.

And right then, he burst into a huge, goofy grin because he heard Dean shout “Cas!” Finally. He let out his breath in an oomph as Dean barreled into him. “I couldn’t find you anywhere,” Dean said, looking up at Cas with wide eyes.

“That’s my line,” Cas teased, giving his boyfriend a quick kiss on the lips. He looked up as he heard three very loud gasps. Everybody else who’d stopped to take a picture of his accidental costume had moved on, but the three school girls were still there, staring at Cas and Dean like they were the most amazing thing ever.

“Daisuke…” the girl who’d been talking about that character whispered reverently.

“Huh?” Cas asked.

“You just kissed Daisuke,” the original girl said, her eyes wide.

“No, this is my boyfriend Dean,” Cas explained.

“He looks exactly like Riyuki’s friend Daisuke,” the third girl said. Ahh.

“What’s she talking about, Cas?” Dean asked, as confused as Cas was when this thing started.

“ _Student By Day, Fight King By Night_ ,” the original girl said.

“Haven’t seen it yet. I gotta finish _Flight School Kiyone_ first,” Dean said, much to Cas’ confusion. There was way too much stuff he didn’t know.

“Apparently, I look exactly like the main character,” Cas told his boyfriend.

“And you look exactly like his friend, Daisuke,” the third girl explained.

“That Riyuki is totally and obviously in love with, no matter what the haters say,” the apparent Daisuke fangirl said.

“Can I get a picture of you guys together? His outfit’s wrong, but he looks enough like him that it won’t matter,” the original asked, pulling her camera back out.

Cas gave Dean a questioning look, and Dean shrugged. “Sure?” The three girls squealed again. Cas draped his arm over Dean’s shoulder, and Dean leaned into him, wrapping his arm around Cas’ back. The camera shutter went off, and the two pulled apart.

“Get one of them kissing!” The fangirl said excitedly.

“Missy, I don’t think that’s the kinda thing you should be asking strangers for,” the original girl scolded.

“I don’t mind,” Cas said, mischievous smile on his face.

“Me neither,” Dean agreed when he saw the type of smile on his boyfriend's face.

“Thanks!” Missy said far too loudly.

“Ready?” The original girl asked. The two boys nodded, and before Dean had the chance to do anything, Cas grabbed him by the front of his t-shirt and pulled him in for a very deep and passionate kiss. Dean responded immediately, wrapping his arms around Cas’ back and pulling in tighter. Cas’ tongue invaded Dean’s mouth, and Dean automatically started playing with the tongue stud, which was always a favorite for both parties involved. Cas had one hand tangled in Dean’s hair, and the other reached down to grab his ass. He squeezed just enough to make Dean moan slightly.

They pulled apart a minute later, Cas smirking in a satisfied cat who ate the canary kind of way, and Dean just managed to look fucked out. He finally noticed the sound of a camera repeatedly clicking. When he looked over at the girls, he saw the original girl was still taking picture after picture and that Missy had her phone out and was obviously taking a video. The final girl was just staring, opened mouthed and completely red from blushing.

The original girl finally stopped taking pictures, and Missy stopped filming a few seconds after. “Yeah, that works,” the original girl mumbled.

“Fuck yeah,” Missy said.

The last girl couldn’t speak, so she just nodded.

When the three girls finally disappeared into the crowd, Dean looked over at his still smirking boyfriend. “I think we broke them,” he said.

“Are you complaining?” Cas asked.

“Not in the slightest,” Dean said, still looking pretty fucked out. Cas leaned forward to adjust his glasses for him. “I think we need to watch that anime tomorrow, though.”

“Yeah, I am kinda curious about my animated doppelganger,” Cas said, grabbing Dean’s hand tighter than the last time as they started moving. “Also kinda curious how hard it would be to find a deserted room in this place,” Cas drawled, his intent beyond obvious.

“Seriously?” Dean asked, sounding even more excited than he had been about the con itself.

“Got something I wanna finish” Cas said and winked. When Dean just squeaked and blushed, Cas laughed, loving the fact that his boyfriend was a total horndog, yet still managed to be so innocent.

When Dean could finally breathe properly again, he whispered “There’s no panels in room five until later in the afternoon.”

“Lead the way,” Cas said. He followed his boyfriend through the crowd, glad he’d thought to get the tickets for Dean’s late birthday present, because now he’d be getting a present too.

**Author's Note:**

> The animes I mentioned are completely made up, as far as I know. Sorry. :( I couldn't think of any animes that would actually work for Cas, so my poor little writer hands were forced. Also, I'm fully aware that most (if not all) cons have consent rules, but for this I figured Cas wouldn't know about it, and the three girls were young and overly excited, so there was hugs when there shouldn't be, but it's okay since nobody got hurt. ^_^
> 
> Oh, and random note: I used my own experience for part of this fic (and not just for the con stuff). The anti-possession symbol tattoo I have on my shoulder totally tickled. Something about the positioning made my lower back vibrate the entire time he was doing it, and it took everything in me to not laugh and ruin the tattoo.


End file.
